16 May 1943
- USS Snook sank a Japanese trawler with her deck gun. ww2dbase [Snook | CPC]
- Joseph Goebbels noted in his diary that Kiel, Germany was heavily damaged in an Allied bombing. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | CPC]
- Japanese 3rd Division attacked Songzi, Hubei Province, China. ww2dbase [Battle of Exi | Songzi, Hubei | CPC]
- Reginaldo Giuliani departed Bordeaux, France. ww2dbase [Reginaldo Giuliani | Bordeaux, Aquitaine | CPC]
- Nachi refueled from oiler Teiyo Maru in Kataoka Bay, Paramushiro (Paramushir), Kurile Islands. ww2dbase [Nachi | Paramushiro, Hokkaido | CPC]
- USS Whale took station 56 kilometers east of Wake Atoll and guided US Army B-24 bombers toward Wake. She was spotted by a Japanese aircraft, but sustained no damaged in the subsequent attack. ww2dbase [Whale | CPC]
- USS Grayback damaged a Japanese destroyer in the South Pacific, hitting her with 2 of 6 torpedoes. ww2dbase [Grayback | CPC]
- The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ended in Poland with the destruction of the Warsaw synagogue at 2015 hours. In Jürgen Stroop's final daily report, he noted that 180 Jewish fighters were killed on this final day. ww2dbase [Warsaw Ghetto Uprising | Jürgen Stroop | Warsaw | TH]
- Wing Commander Guy Gibson's Dambusters took off from Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom for an attack on the Ruhr River dams in Germany. ww2dbase [Dambuster Raid | England | TH, CPC]
- USS Mingo departed New London, Connecticut, United States for the Panama Canal. ww2dbase [Mingo | New London, Connecticut | CPC]
16 May 1943 Interactive Map
Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis
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